Automotive colour is where emotional design meets materials science. It influences brand identity, purchase decisions, safety perception and even sustainability. In anticipation of International Colour Day on March 21, BASF Coatings is highlighting the crucial role colour plays in automotive design, manufacturing and repair. Far beyond aesthetics, automotive colour is a complex, data-driven, and technically precise discipline that requires profound knowledge substrate pre-treatment, the development of different layers that build the final coating and the skill to exactly replicate the status quo of a colour shade even years after its application.
Protecting colour from the very first layer
With decades of expertise in colour innovation, BASF Coatings is well positioned to create, protect and preserve automotive colour across the full lifecycle of a vehicle. When car owners talk about the colour of their car, they usually refer to the visible, colourful basecoat only. But to make a colour shine, it takes way more than just the pigmentation. BASF Coatings' integrated approach ensures that vehicles also adhere to stringent durability and sustainability standards such as corrosion protection.
“Pretreatment is the invisible enabler behind durable, sustainable automotive coatings. By offering tailored pretreatment solutions for modern automotive substrates, we create the chemical foundation for corrosion resistance and robust paint adhesion. This first process step is decisive for the long-term performance, durability and sustainability of the entire coating system and the basis to make every colour shine,” head of global segment management Automotive OEM Surface Treatment, Meike Flöck, said.
Designing automotive colours for performance and with responsible material choices
The diversity of today’s automotive colours is driven by the precise interplay of pigments and effect materials that give each basecoat its distinctive character. At BASF Coatings, this expertise is combined with close collaboration between the global Colour Design team and automotive manufacturers, enabling innovative colour solutions that meet high performance standards while allowing the integration of more responsible material choices where feasible.
This approach has recently been recognised by leading design and technology institutions. The trend colour Reverence Darkness of BASF Coatings received the Materialica Design and Technology Award 2025, honouring its use of recycled tire materials as a carbon black source. In parallel, BASF Coatings was nominated as a finalist for the German Ecodesign Award 2025 with its project ‘Colours with Renewable Pigments’, demonstrating how bio-based waste streams can be transformed into expressive colours without compromising durability or production reliability. The German Ecodesign Award is Germany’s highest state award for ecological design.
“Colours play a vital role in how consumers connect with a vehicle. Across all regions, we see a clear desire for more individual, expressive colour identities, and growing interest in colour solutions that incorporate responsible material choices,” global head of Automotive Colour Design at BASF Coatings, Mark Gutjahr, said.
“As colour designers, our task is to translate cultural signals, technological advances, and emotional needs into colours that not only look compelling, but also perform reliably in industrial production over a long period of time. Together with our customers, we develop more than 1,300 colour concepts each year and have around 450 commercialised.”
Preserving colour authenticity throughout a vehicle’s lifecycle
Once a vehicle is in use, maintaining colour authenticity becomes a key factor for its long-term and sustainable lifecycle. Today’s coatings include functions such as UV protection that prevent colours from fading when exposed to sunlight.
“In automotive refinish, we approach colour as a dynamic and evolving element. Every vehicle shade is defined by countless subtle differences that emerge over time, across different repair situations and with varied materials. Our strength is in capturing and digitally replicating these unique nuances, ensuring that body shops can achieve an authentic colour match and restore vehicles to their original appearance – even years after the car first left the factory,” head of global marketing, Jane Niemi, said.
When it comes to restoring vehicles to their original condition, matching the current colour shade after a repair job or even an entire re-colourisation, BASF Coatings provides an online database that gives detailed information on millions of colours and the correct mixing formulas of cars from around the world. Professional body shops benefit from exact colour data and a state-of-the-art portfolio of high-quality refinish paint products, which exactly match OEM requirements.
Automotive colour is a complex discipline and guiding customers through that complexity has long been part of BASF Coatings’ DNA. As the company enters a new chapter under Carlyle’s ownership in Q2 2026, it is strengthening its technical expertise, investing in its people and deepening its passion for colour, ensuring it remains a reliable and forward-thinking partner across the entire automotive value chain.